China: 350 evacuated after quake hits Xinjiang

In this photo released by China’s Xinhua News Agency, frontier defense soldiers check the damage of a collapsed house at the quake-hit Bulake Village of Muji Township in Akto County, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region . (Alim Awghus/Xinhua via AP)

About 350 people were evacuated by military personnel from Akto County in the quake-prone Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region after it was hit by a strong 6.7-magnitude earthquake last week that killed one person and damaged several houses. More than 20 army staff from the nearby military regiment arrived immediately after the quake, the regiment said in a statement.

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Another 45 staff joined the rescue team on Saturday and went to a village close to the epicentre with tents, food and medicine. The regiment also sent oxygen and quilts to the worst-hit areas.

One person died in the quake. Sections of railway in southern Xinjiang have also been temporarily closed. Six houses also were found cracked or collapsed.

In the last five years, 83 earthquakes of magnitude 4 or over have occurred within 200 km radius of the epicentre with the largest recorded on December 7, 2015 when a quake of magnitude 7.4 hit the neighbouring Tajikistan.